WASHINGTON — After weeks of pain at the gas pump and the grocery store, the worst appears to be over.
Oil prices have fallen, with gas soon to follow. Demand for farm commodities, such as the corn used in everything from cereal to soda, has dropped. And businesses remain slow to pass along higher costs because customers aren’t getting raises and might walk away.
Inflation isn’t much of a worry for economists these days.
“I think the bulk of the big price increases are over,” said Gus Faucher, an economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Lower prices — or at least a break in prices’ steady rise — will come as a big relief.
Consumer prices rose 3.2 percent for the year ending in April, the most since October 2008. Higher food and gas prices drove the gains.
Excluding those two categories, prices rose 0.2 percent in April. They rose 1.3 percent over the past year, within what the Federal Reserve considers healthy.
Economists study this figure, known as core inflation, because food and energy prices are volatile.
Inflation was a much bigger concern in March. Oil prices were rising steadily because of the unrest in the Middle East.
Now the nationwide average price for gas has leveled off. On Friday, it was just under $4 a gallon, where it’s been for the past week. Many analysts say it could drop to $3.50 as soon as next month.
The prices of milk, bread and chicken won’t fall as fast — it could take six months or longer, analysts say — but they could decline by the end of the year.
EUROPE WORRIES: Signs that Europe’s debt troubles are larger than originally forecast rattled financial markets Friday, sending the dollar up nearly 1 percent and erasing the week’s gains.
FLOODING AND GAS PRICES: Most refineries in the Gulf Coast region don’t expect to be affected by flooding from the Mississippi River. Still, some have lined their facilities with sandbags, moved equipment and prepared other emergency measures.
